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City Council District 7

As a reader service, the Daily Record plans to present daily information about candidates on the ballot in the spring election. The information is scheduled to be published in advance of early voting, which begins March 7 in Duval County. The Daily Record sent the same questions to council candidates and will publish their e-mailed responses. Candidates were given a word limit. Responses that exceeded it are edited for space.

The candidates say...

What is the single most important issue facing your district?

What are the most pressing problems facing the City?

Would you support new taxes or fees to improve the port and/or Downtown?

Why should district constituents elect you?

Johnny A. Gaffney (incumbent) Democrat

The single most important issue facing District 7 is jobs. To improve the quality of life of the residents of District 7, the City of Jacksonville needs to continue to emphasize economic development to increase jobs! The City must continue to emphasize aesthetic improvements and focus on improving communication between police and residents, increasing homeownership and giving young people more constructive things to do with their time.

Public safety, education and economic development is paramount if the city is to flourish and grow. The mayor and City Council must exercise financial and fiscal accountability by resolving the City financial and budget issues. We must continue to make improvements in our neighborhoods to increase property values, which ultimately will bring more revenue through higher property values and jobs. Lastly, education is a top priority!

I am not interested in raising taxes; however, after consulting, polling and engaging my constituents to solicit their input, I will be willing to consider raising taxes with their endorsement if it is going to be beneficial to the people and community that I serve.

As a banking executive, professor and past owner of a mortgage bank, I know finance, I understand budgets, and I am pro-business. My constituents should elect me because I have demonstrated my willingness to stand up for the people and to listen on issues before the City Council and in the community. As a councilman, we have accomplished an unprecedented amount of accomplishments and projects over my first term.

Marc McCulloughDemocrat

Jobs! If we don’t bring more jobs to the community we are setting ourselves up for future failure!

Crime is running rampant through our city and until we address this issue from the bottom up we will still have this problem!

I’m not going to support any new taxes, other than an additional one-cent sales tax so that everyone can pay their fair share throughout the city. We need to support the port to create high-paying jobs! Downtown needs help but more taxes and fees are not the answer.

I’m from this community born and raised! I know what this community is going through and I’m willing to do the work to fix it! God wrote my lesson plans, now it’s time for me to teach what I’ve learned! I’m not running for a political seat, I’m applying for a job because there is work to be done!